Adventures in Mommyhood

Archive for the ‘Getting things done!’ Category

If you have visited our Facebook page in the last couple days, you might have noticed that Ladybug had a new found fascination with monsters. When Auntie K. they spend the two hours she’s here chasing monsters around. She had expressed some fear over them, which sucks. No parent wants their kiddo having lingering fears over monsters.

And then I remembered a pin I had saved on Pinterest a few months back. “Monster Spray“, helping parents help kiddos conquer their fears. Heck to the yes, this worked soooo well.

Staring down that monster, preparing to spray him away

We got him, so now let's wipe him away!

I totally took advantage of this opportunity to teach cleaning up after our messes. So it was a win/win situation all around. The monsters are gone, and if they come back we have more spray to get them out. I’ll probably end up decorating the bottle with some foam stickers to distinguish it as our Monster Spray.

What are some creative or silly ways that you help your child(ren) through their fears?

I’m finally not feeling so stressed all of the time. Parenting is hard work, to put it lightly. And teething with infants can be a beeping, beep, beep, beepity, beeeeeping, beeped, beep… beep. But, I digress.

Nothing quite prepares you for the possible months of broken sleep. Not to mention adjusting from having one to two little humans depending on you. Yeah, Bumblebee is almost 9 months and it is just now getting easier. Or should I say, we have a system now that works for us. I still feel stressed, mostly in the mornings, until I pound my morning coffee.

So at this point in my journey to living healthier, I have lost 43 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight since the little man has made his appearance. It is awesome, it is a achievement that I never thought I would reach. Mostly it started out with just changing the way I eat. I can’t eat hamburger anymore and fried foods make me sick. Chinese style takeout makes nauseous just at the thought. I’ve taken it too the next level and have started eating Paleo. I would say I eat about 80% Paleo in a given day. I still eat oatmeal, I still have a tablespoon or two of Natural Bliss creamer in my coffee. All the rest I omit because my body just runs better, and more efficient. My allergy induced asthma has been non existent since I started this lifestyle. My peace of mind is better over what I eat; because if I indulge and have delicious piece of cake, chocolate, or any other dessert then I need not worry of this sabotaging my diet. It is the exception not the constant in my diet now. I’m kind of in love with how it has changed my views of the purpose of food… to fuel our bodies to do the best of their abilities.

And speaking of abilities, I started back at the gym on Monday and I’m kind of impressed by my muscles’ memories. It’s been a year since I’ve been on a stationary bike, and I was able to jump back into it. I did six miles in a little under 20 minutes. It is my go to exercise because I can get a good workout in fast. Also started day one of Couch to 5K. The prospect of getting back into running is exciting to me. I’m planning to run a 5K in September with my bestie Chelsey. All the more motivation to stick with it.

And with that I’m out, this mama needs some downtime now that the littles are sleeping.

Yep, that’s right messes are now making my kitchen a cleaner place. Upon reading a blog post from the Pajama Mama, I tried using rice for sensory play time for Ladybug in our kitchen. I set out two large mixing bowls, filled one halfway with white rice, and then gave her a measuring cup to scoop it from bowl to bowl. And then she went to town on it. Scooping, mixing, letting the rice fall her fingers.

She was entertained with this activity for a good half an hour. In that time I was able to get dinner started, empty the dishwasher, wipe down the counters, and then fill the dishwasher with the dishes from the sink. All the while Bumblebee was content chewing on his taggy elephant toy while chilling in his bouncer chair.

Then once she was finished up, instead of just sweeping up the rice I decided to sweep the entire kitchen. Ladybug even helped me empty the dust pan into the garbage. I had a feeling of accomplishment after all this, like maybe trying to juggle keeping up with the housework while taking care of the kiddos doesn’t have to be so stressful.

So now all I need to do is come up with ideas to occupy the kiddos while cleaning the rest of the house. Suggestions are welcome. 🙂